4 Pfennig

Goslar's municipal coinage rights derived from its long association with the Rammelsberg silver mines, one of the most productive ore deposits in medieval Europe. By the early eighteenth century, however, those mines were in steep decline, and the city's fiscal position had deteriorated accordingly. Billon — the debased silver-copper alloy used here — reflects that constraint directly. This is municipal coinage minted from necessity, not prosperity.